Judges 11:32-13:5
The Lord delivered the Ammonites into the hand of Jephthah, and they were utterly defeated. When Jephthah returned to his house, his only child, his daughter, came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances, and he was very sad. He had made a promise to the Lord, and he would not go back, nor alter what he had vowed. After she had bewailed her virginity two months, then Jephthah fulfilled his vow, and great mourning followed among the daughters of Israel from year to year.
All this, teaches us a very important lesson, especially in the days in which we live. God may, and does, use whomsoever He will in His service, but He does not approve of all they do. As the days grow darker, God may pick up those whom we least expect He would use, but it is not ours to say, “What doest Thou?” Daniel 4:35. He will accomplish His purposes in His own way, and our part is simple, unquestioning obedience to His Word, leaving God to do according to His will. Paul rejoiced that Christ was preached “whether in pretense, or in truth,” Philippians 1:18—let us do the same!
The men of Ephraim, who had been jealous of Gideon in his day, were now jealous of Jephthah. They even gathered an army and came out to fight against him, but Jephthah did not show the same grace that Gideon did. He fought against them. Jealousy is a terrible thing among the people of God, and it causes untold sorrow. It is very liable to run in families too, as with the Ephraimites, but the grace of God can help us to overcome our “family weaknesses” if we look to Him. Let us not excuse ourselves for these weaknesses (which we all have), but rather seek grace from above to overcome them. A terrible judgment of God fell upon these Ephraimites because of their jealousy, and forty-two thousand of them were slain in this battle. Just think of a terrible slaughter like this over nothing else but jealousy!—surely “jealousy is cruel as the grave.” Song of Sol. 8:6.
After the death of Jephthah there were three other judges who arose, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, but the people again departed from the Lord.
Then the Lord delivered Israel into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. Up to this time their enemies, as recorded in the book of Judges, had been from outside, but the Philistines were enemies from within. They were those left in the land whom the children of Israel had not conquered. The record that follows, therefore, about Samson, is given in great detail, for it is full of important instruction for us in our day, when we feel the enemy’s power from within the professing church. The only way to overcome in such a state of things as this, is complete separation to God, called Nazariteship, as with Samson. The Lord Jesus was the true Nazarite, the truly separated One, and now He is gone up on high. We are now associated with Him up there, and should walk as separated ones here. This applies to our walk as individuals, as well as to the position of the assembly during our Lord’s absence.
When, therefore, the birth of Samson was announced to Manoah’s wife, she was told that God would give her a son who was to be a Nazarite, or a separated one, to God from the day of his birth. She herself was to be very careful as to her own conduct, too, as every parent should be.
ML 11/08/1953